Region briefs

PATOKA, Ill. (AP) — A Kentucky couple and their three children headed to visit family in Minnesota have been identified as the weekend drowning victims caught in a rain-swollen southern Illinois creek.

Todd County, Kentucky, Coroner Timothy Wells told The Associated Press Monday that Adam Schutt and his wife Erin of Elkton died Saturday night after attempting to cross a low-lying bridge near the town of Patoka, Illinois, about 60 miles east of St. Louis.

Logan, Robbyn and Chad Schutt also died. Wells did not release the victims’ ages.

The family’s car had been on Interstate 57. Investigators suggested the Schutts got lost after stopping for gas or dinner before driving into several feet of water.

The river was nearly 7 feet above flood stage at St. Louis and expected to rise another 8 feet before cresting Thursday. That would make it the second-highest reading ever, topped only by the 1993 flood.

City crews have closed flood gates in the flood wall and are monitoring for trouble spots. Meanwhile, sandbagging operations will begin Tuesday morning to protect homes along the River Des Peres.

2 homeless men rescued from rising river at St. Louis

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Two homeless men are OK after being trapped on the wrong side of the downtown St. Louis flood wall.

KMOV-TV reports that the men were camping on the Mississippi River side of the wall Monday morning when rising waters trapped them. A woman who advocates for the homeless found them in danger, and called for help.

Firefighters had to use an aerial ladder to get the men to safety. They were unharmed.

The river is nearly 7 feet above flood stage in St. Louis, and expected to rise another 8 feet by Thursday.

Train tracks wash away in southwest Missouri

NEOSHO, Mo. (AP) — A stretch of train tracks has washed away and caused at least nine cars to topple onto their sides in southwest Missouri.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Andy Williams says the tracks washed away Sunday morning after crews stopped the train because of flooding along the line. He says teams arrived at the scene Monday to access the damage.

Williams says the train was headed eastbound from California. The derailed cars were transporting about 30 containers. No hazardous materials were involved.

East St. Louis ousts city manager after 4 months on job

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. (AP) — The merry-go-round of East St. Louis city government continued to spin Monday as elected leaders jettisoned a city manager hired only after losing his April mayoral re-election bid.

Two City Council members and current Mayor Emeka Jackson-Hicks voted Monday to fire Alvin Parks Jr. as the city continues to struggle with a nearly $6 million budget shortfall. Longtime city employee Edith Moore was named interim city manager.

The city was sued by its police and firefighter pension funds over millions in missed payments. Police officers and other city employees have recently been laid off, including a public safety director who took early retirement from the U.S. Secret Service to work for East St. Louis. The dismissal of nearly 20 city workers allowed Parks to drop plans to also cut several firefighter jobs.

Officials have also suggested that the city may need to take out loans to meet employee payroll.

Parks, who spent eight years as mayor, said the vote caught him by surprise.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he said when asked if he was given a reason for his termination. “I accept the results and am moving on.”

Jackson-Hicks and the two council members who voted to oust Parks — including one whose previous vote led to Parks’ City Hall return in a 3-2 decision — did not immediately respond to AP interview requests.

Parks was hired in late August — amid audience chants at a public council meeting of “No Alvin Parks” — and earned $100,000 annually, twice his salary as mayor. His predecessor had relocated from Colorado and been on the job for just one month after Jackson-Hicks ousted yet another city manager.

East St. Louis has had 13 police chiefs since 2005. Two of those chiefs spent time in federal prison — one for shielding a politically-connected businessman from a criminal probe by hiding a gun, the other for stealing video game consoles from a car while on duty as chief of nearby Alorton.

Much of Illinois State Museum management leaves amid closure

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Most of the management team at the Illinois State Museum has retired or taken other jobs amid the museum’s closure due to a lack of a state budget.

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration closed the museum to the public on Oct. 1.

The (Springfield) State Journal-Register reports that the administration has laid off about a dozen members of the museum’s management team.

Museum board chairman Guerry Suggs says only three or four members of the management team would be available to return should the museum reopen. Union employees working for the museum have spent their time doing curation work and other duties since the museum was closed.

A bill designed to keep the museum open has been sent to the governor. Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly says the bill is under review.

1 dead, 4 others hurt in train-car crash in Chicago

CHICAGO (AP) — Authorities say one person has been killed and four others injured when a Metra train struck a car on Chicago’s southwest side.

Fire officials say five people were extricated from the car following the crash Monday afternoon and taken to an Oak Lawn hospital. One of the injured people later died.